Egret on the rocks
This Great egret (Ardea alba) stepped around the point and into view from the rocks where I was photographing.
After a short pause, she flew across a small gap and began fishing. The head cocks back and then strikes into the water, rarely coming up without a fish.
At home I photograph the Great blue herons frequently which is in the same family as egrets. Their mannerisms are very similar as is their size. The white feathers are the most obvious difference and I love shooting them against the blues of the water and the warm hues in the rocks.
In flight, I find them particularly alluring and this bird flew between several outcrops affording me great opportunities to watch.
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Of lizards in Los Cabos
We have relatively few lizards where I live. The same does not seem to be true here in Cabo San Lucas. We have a trio of geckos that come out around our patio nightly. During the day I have seen a variety of iguanas, salamanders and rock lizards. One large iguana was perched in a hedge munching on the flowers when I walked by a few days ago. I was surprised to find it in that spot and have since learned that petals are a regular part of the diet.
Most often, I see them out warming their cold blood on hot rocks in the sun…
Some stay mostly out of sight – this green lizard was shy but easily the most colorful one I’ve seen. After watching me for a couple of minutes, he did come out for a look around.
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Under the stars with Kian
My son and I spent a couple of hours down on the beach watching the stars and playing around with some longer exposures. It was a beautiful night made infinitely better with him there.
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Hacienda del Mar in Cabo San Lucas
We are staying at a beautiful resort that is along the shore of the Sea of Cortez about ten kilometres from Cabo San Lucas. Hacienda del Mar has colonial style architecture painted in vibrant, warm tones. The villas are surrounded by gardens, pathways and courtyards which attract hummingbirds, sapsuckers and a wide variety of other birds. This is our second visit here and I took a little time to photograph the grounds on the way to the beach before sunrise the other day.
Hurricane Odile hit the Los Cabos area on September 14, 2014 unleashing 210 km/h winds and 6 hours of torrential rain. The aftermath saw heavy destruction all along the coast and an unprecedented disruption to Cabo’s primary industry – tourism. Hacienda del Mar was hit hard but, as seen throughout the area, the people here have done incredible work to get the resort not just back into service but I would say to a better than before state. It’s a great place with very special people – we are lucky to be able to enjoy time with both.
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A Gila Woodpecker in Los Cabos
Canon 5DIII + 70-200 lens and 1.4x extender at 280mm: 1/5000 of a second at f/6.3 on ISO 800
When my wife and I went to Cabo San Lucas last December I was lucky to find this Gila Woodpecker (Melanerpes uropygialis) in a stand of cacti during a morning walk. I had noticed the hole in this cactus and was looking on when this one flew in. It poked its head out a couple of times before heading off again. I carried on and saw it flying around a couple more times when I came back that way near the end of my stroll.
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On the rocks with a Brown Pelican
Brown Pelicans are frequent fliers just above the waves all around Los Cabos. I love watching them glide and I had a special encounter one morning when we were staying near Cabo San Lucas in December. Just before sunrise down on the beach near Punta Cabeza De Ballena, east of Cabo, when one landed on rocks near the shore close to me. This pelican came in when it was still pretty dark but there was enough light to make the landing a good photo opportunity.
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In the two images above, I brought out some detail by bringing up the shadows in post. Below, I went the other way and deepened the shadows to create a solid silhouette of the pelican.
This fellow flew off before the sun came up. I had hoped he would stay as the sun was at an angle where the sun would be backlighting the feathers which I thought would look beautiful.
Even though he left a bit early for me, it was great when it flew close to the waves in between the rocks and the crests of the waves as it passed me by.
As the sun came up so too did the tide. The waves were breaking around the rocks where the pelican had rested which looked beautiful. I was really happy when another pelican came in and landed very close to the original one’s spot. With the sun and sea spray, it was a great scene to photograph. The first image in this set was from this point in the morning.
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The second pelican stayed for a little while and then took off allowing for a nice launch photograph and then headed over the waves in the opposite direction from the first pelican.
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A Curious Cormorant
When we were in Cabo San Lucas in early December, I saw many cormorants flying past our beach. They fly low and fast with little deviation from a straight line past the shore. The odd one would dive under to fish but our location did not seem to be a great spot for a meal. One morning, I was watching for Brown Pelicans, who will occasionally land quite close by, when a juvenile Brandt’s Cormorant (Phalacrocorax penicillatus) popped up on a rocky shelf about 30 meters away.
It looked at me for a second, started shaking off the water and then set to preening its feathers. I was thrilled to see one of these birds closeup. From afar, they appear to be completely black. With this opportunity, I was able to see the different shading in the feathers and the lighter shading around the face.
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That was interesting for me but the location made the images even better than the close proximity. It had chosen a dynamic spot where the waves were breaking close behind it, one even crashed right on the bird. The water droplets from the cormorant’s shaking, the sea spray and warm morning sunlight as well as some nice looks from my new friend made for a really great encounter.
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This fellow preened again for a few minutes after this and a couple of other waves crashed. Then it flew off the rock down to the water. I left it swimming and diving for fish.
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Whale tails and more
(click on an image to open a higher resolution version)
When we were in Cabo San Lucas the first week of December, Bobbi and I both went out on whale watching trips. Whales found Bobbi less than a mile out of the Cabo San Lucas Marina while I had a longer travel along the Pacific coastline before sighting one active Humpback. We both had long encounters with these magnificent animals. Our children had enjoyed the dolphin swim the day before but were not excited about the whale watching. So one parent went out while the other patrolled the kids at the pool and beach.
While we went on separate excursions, we went with the same operator and were both similarly impressed. Whale Watch Cabo runs their tours on Panga boats, low to the water and great sight lines for everyone on board. Every tour they run is led by a marine biologist and a local captain. It was nice to hear more information about whales and other local ocean wildlife during the trip.
We enjoyed a close look of the Sea Lion colony and the groups of birds around Land’s End. Then headed out onto the open ocean up the coastline of western Baja. On my tour, we found an energetic whale and it was incredible to watch three separate breaches and numerous airborne tails. Bobbi and I both had great times and thank Janneke and Peter, the owners of Whale Watch Cabo, for making our trips very memorable.
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A few mornings off Punta Cabeza De Ballena
Canon 5DIII + 24-105mm f/4 lens at 24mm: 8 seconds at f/16 on ISO 200
When we were in Los Cabos last week, we stayed just off the water near Punta Cabeza De Ballena which is east of Cabo San Lucas. Facing east, the sun rose out of the Sea of Cortez every morning. With my wife’s graceful blessing, I was on the beach before dawn almost every day. These are a few of the different faces the coast presented over the week.
Canon 5DIII + 17-40mm f/4 lens at 25mm: 120 seconds at f/16 on ISO 800
Canon 5DIII + 17-40mm f/4 lens at 17mm: 8 seconds at f/22 on ISO 200
Canon 5DIII + 17-40mm f/4 lens at 17mm: 20 seconds at f/4 on ISO 800
Canon 5DIII + 17-40mm f/4 lens at 17mm: 6 seconds at f/22 on ISO 200
Canon 5DIII + 24-105mm f/4 lens at 67mm: 4 seconds at f/22 on ISO 100
Canon 5DIII + 500mm f/4 lens: 1/15 of a second at f/9 on ISO 100
Canon 5DIII + 24-105mm f/4 lens at 40mm: 0.6 seconds at f/22 on ISO 100
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Whale Tail
Canon 5DIII + 70-200mm f/4 lens: 1/4000 of a second at f/11 on ISO 400
Water sprays off a whale’s tail as it begins a dive in the Pacific Ocean west of Cabo San Lucas in Mexico. This Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) was very active with some great tail lifts and breaches before settling into a steady swim just under the surface which we used as our queue to part company. It is amazing just to see them and for it share some of its out of the water action was very fun to watch.
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Pelican Landing
The colors in the sky at dawn have been fantastic during our visit to Los Cabos this week. The wildlife has been even more enjoyable. Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) have been a favourite bird of mine to photograph since I first saw them here in Cabo san Lucas a couple of years ago. On the prairies, we have White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) that will hang out on larger ponds for the summer but for some reason they don’t cast the same spell on me that their multi-coloured cousins do. I had a great encounter with a pair of pelicans a couple of mornings ago. This image was of the first one maneuvering in to land on a half-submerged rock pile just before sunrise. The other pelican joined a little while later. Probably once I get home, I’ll have more to share from these two.
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Mexican dawn in Los Cabos
Bobbi and I are in Cabo san Lucas with our children for a nice break from winter. We left just before a heavy blizzard so we were lucky with the timing. The mornings have been spectacular here as we are located on a lovely stretch of sand where the sun climbs out of the Sea of Cortez right in front of us. On this morning the silhouette of a fellow sunrise watcher tied the glowing pastels in the sky ahead of dawn to the rippled reflections and the beach.
